Weed-cutter.



PATENTED FEB. 13, 1906.

J. KILLEPER.

WEED CUTTER.

APPLICATION FILED 00T 10.1904.

JOHN KILLEFER, OF LOS ANG-ELES, CALIFORNIA. WEED-CUTTER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 13, 1906.

Application filed October 10,1904. Serial No. 227,832.

To rtZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, J OHN KILLEFER, a citizen of the United States,residin at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Ange les, State ofCalifornia, have invented new and useful Improvements in Need-Cutters,of which the following is a specification.

An object of this invention is to provide a weed-cutter with cuttingblades or knives of such shape as to reduce to a minimum-the wear orscouring effect of the earth on the knives.

Another object of the invention is to reduce to a minimum the resistanceoffered by the knife to the forward movement through the earth. Theknives for this purpose are generally made by bending a strip or bar insuch manner that the shank or bar for attachment to the cutting-framelies above and substantially'at right angles to the cutting part, theshank and the cutting part being connected by a bend or curve in thebar. In the usual manner of manufacture the effect of bending the barover in this manner is to form an inward curve or concavity at thebendthat is to say, the bar at the curve will be convex at its outerface and concave on its innor face. This portion of the bar, which maybe termed the throat, will in practice be set substantially in the lineof draft, but, owing to its curvature in a longitudinal direction, itpresents considerable resistance to the forward movement of the barthrough the earth. It is also found in practice that the wear on thispart of the bar is so great, owing to the shape thereof, that it is wornthrough to the extent of rendering the blade useless long before thecutting portion of the blade has reached its limit of usefulness.

My invention consists in forming this bent portion of the cutting-bar insuch manner that it will lie straight in the line of draft, therebypresenting a minimum of resistance to the draft, enabling it to last aslong or even longer than the body of the cutting-blade. By this I alsoprovide for the ready sharpening of the cutting-bar without undue wearon the throat thereof and by forming the bend in the bar so that thefaces of the curved por tion are in line with the line of draft avoidthe accumulation of soilin front of the throat of the bar.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention.

Figure 1 is a plan of a weed-cutter provided with blades. Fig. 2 is aside elevation I thereof. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section of one of thecutters on line 90 x in Fig. 2.

1 designates the frame for supporting and drawing the weed-cutter, whichframe may be of any usual or suitable construction and provided withdraft means 2, platform 3, and handle 4 in the usual manner. I 5designates the cutters, which. are formed with a shank 6 for attachmentto the frame 1 and with a knife or blade portion 7, the shank I andknife portions extending at an angle to one another and being connectedby a curved or bent portion 8. The portion 8 is bent as though about oneside of a cylinder parallel with the line of draft. In bending the barin this manner the natural tendency of the metal is to draw up or out atthe edges and in at the center, and in forming cutters I resist orovercome this tendency and bring the bend ofthe cutters parallel to astraight cylindrical segment whose outer and inner sides extendlongitudinally or parallel to a straight line namely, the line of draft.

The cutting portion 7 of the cutters is provided with a sharpened orknife edge in the usual manner, and this knife-edge may be continued upand around the bend'8, as indicated at 9.

The cutters are fastened to the frame 1 by bolts or clips, (indicated at10,) with their shanks 6 extending rearwardly at an angle, the bends 8extending downwardly from the shanks and being throughout substantiallyparallel to the line of draft and the cutting portions 7 extending fromthe bends 8 rearwardly at a reverse angle to the shanks and with aslight forward dip, as shown in Fig. 2.

As the draft-frame 1 is drawn over the ground the cutters and cuttingportions 7 of the cutters will be drawn along slightly below the surfaceof the ground, and the connecting portion or bend 8 will also passthrough or into the ground and be drawn therethrough.

The arrow in Fig. 3 indicates the line of draft for said portion.

Referring to the drawings, it will be seen that each blade is providedwith a shank which is so attached to an implement that the forward edgethereof may encounter the soil throughout substantially the entirelength of the shank. This is an important feature of my invention,because the shank portion of a tooth, being near to the point ofattachment, cannot yield like the rear or underground portion of thetooth when it encounters an obstacle, and should therefore beconstructed to siaav meet the soil in a squarely edgeWise manner, so asto meet as few obstacles as possible and be adapted to cut its Waythrough such obstacles as it necessarily meets.

It is clear that With the bend of the cutter so formed and mounted theWear thereon due to the scouring action of the earth will be re duced toa minimum, as Will also the frictional resistance offered to the draftmove ment. It is found, as a matter of fact, that With this constructionand arrangement the cutting portion 7 Wears away mostly at the extremetip and the Wear at the throat is neg ligible, With the result that thelife of the tool is prolonged to the greatest possible limit.

That I claim is A Weed-cutter provided With a cuttingblade having asubstantially flat, straight, underground portion extending rearwardlyparallel With the surface of the earth, the cutting edge of saidunderground portion inclined laterally to the direction of draft, ashank for attaching said blade to an implement, and a bent portionconnecting the shank to the straight portion, the forward edge of saidbent portion being in position to encounter the soil throughoutsubstantially the entire length thereof and lying in the plane of theside of a cylinder parallel With the line of draft.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand, at Los Angeles,California, this 3d day of October, 1904.

JOHN KILLEFER.

In presence of GEORGE T. HAoKLEY, JU IA TOWNSEND.

